Stamp album

ABSTRACT

A postage stamp album having a transparent sheet covering the stamps. A single sheet is laminated to an album page by means of parallel adhesive strips but unadhered in intervening bands. Between the strips, there are printed broad lines which outline spaces for stamps to be placed on the various parts of the page and legends within the outlines designating the stamp for each position. The stamp is a little smaller than the outline so that the outline provides a dark background for the stamp. The film is slit parallel to and between the adhered strips to permit insertion of postage stamps to be held to the paper over the outlines.

[451 Aug. 22, 1972 United States Patent Hillmer [54] STAMP ALBUM FORElGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS [72] Inventor:

Duane Hillmer, 1410 Kiewit Plaza, 460,192 10/1949 Canada.....,.............40/104.l9 Omaha, Nebr. 68131 May 11, 1970 Primary Examiner-Robert W. Michell [22] Filed:

Assistant Examiner-Wenceslao J. Contreras [21] Appl. No.1 36,372 Attorney-Cushman, Darby & Cushman [57]- ABSTRACT A postage stamp album having a transparent sheet W a SL Um 1 21 55 covering the stamps. A single sheet is laminated to an album page by means of parallel adhesive strips but unadhered in intervening bands. Between the strips, there are printed broad lines which outline spaces for stamps to be placed on the various parts of the page and legends within the outlines designating the stamp for each position. The stamp is a little smaller than the [58] Field of Search....-...40/158, 159, 104.18, 104.19

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 624 347 5/1899 Levy..................,..40/158 UX 2 154 510 4/1939 King et al. ...................40/159 Outline SO that the Outline Provides a dark background 2 12/1956 Ellsworth.;...................40/159 for the stamp' The film is smpafinel and between 2 369 1 H1958 widmaier 40/159 the adhered strips to permit insertion of postage 3 655 3/1966 g stamps to be held to the paper over the outlines.

Fuller ..........40/l32 2 Claims, 2 Drawing Figures a l l L 'l 1 1 l STAMP ALBUM The present invention relates to an album for mounting and protecting postage stamps and individual sheets to be used in said album or in other forms of display.

Philately is a hobby relating to the collection of postage stamps. There are millions of collectors throughout the world who have assembled untold numbers of postage stamps. Traditionally, these stamps are mounted on album pages or individual sheets which either may be fastened in loose leaf binders or displayed, e.g., in display cases on walls. The pages or sheets commonly are preprinted with squares or rectangles corresponding to the outer dimensions of the stamps to be placed at various positions. The outlines are accompanied by legends identifying the stamps, and a picture of the stamp may be printed within the outline.

Customarily stamps are mounted in albums by means of devices known as hinges. These are small rectangles of glassine paper, e.g., approximately 1% X inch, coated on one side with a moistenable adhesive. In use, the hinges are folded across the middle, with the adhesive turned out, and the respective halves are adhered to the album pages and the back of the stamp. This procedure is time consuming and may damage the stamp. That is, if the stamp is removed from the album,

a small portion of the fibers of the paper stock may bev removed when the hinge is pulled loose. Since the value of a stamp depends in part on its condition, such damage may in fact reduce the value of the stamp. Furthermore, the stamps are uncovered and may be injured or soiled.

More recently, improved stamp display devices have become available. These comprise a piece of flexible but relatively stiff transparent plastic, e.g., cellulose acetate, to cover the stamp, and another piece of plastic coated on one side with moistenable adhesive. The two pieces, which are slightly larger than the stamp are joined at one edge in such a way that the pieces of plastic are urged towards each other. The adhesive is adhered to the album and the stamp is inserted between the plastic layers. Because of the stiffness of the sheets, they hold the stamp in place. This type of device is supplied in the form of strips, e.g., 8 inches long, which are cut to the width of the stamps.

In one form, the adhesive coated layer is colored, e.g., dark green and the plastic is sufficiently larger than the stamp that a border of colored plastic is displayed around the starnp. However, the colored plastic behind the stamp may show through the stamp itself, especially if it is rather thin. Also, it covers any legend printed within the outline for the stamp.

In another form of this device, the adhesive coated plastic is cut into two pieces, adhered to opposite edges of the clear plastic and meeting at the middle of the device. One half is adhered to the album and the stamp is inserted. If desired, the other half may then be adhered to the album.

The object of the present invention is to provide an album page with a pre-mounted fastening device for the stamp which avoids the aforesaid difficulties and which is inexpensive to manufacture. Briefly, it comprises a sheet of clear plastic which covers the entire album page and which is adhered in parallel narrow strips extending across the page, the bands of plastic between the adhered strips being unadhered. The

unadhered bands, are slit lengthwise, preferably near their middle, to permit lifting the plastic and inserting the stamps. Outlines for stamps are printed under these bands, the heights of stamps under the respective bands preferably being nearly the width of the bands.

In a preferred embodiment; the outline for each stamp comprises a wide dark border, e.g., about oneeighth to three-sixteenths inch wide. This provides a border around the stamp as described above without a dark background behind the stamp.

The invention will be understood better from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment, reference being made to the drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a front view of a loose-leaf album sheet according to the present invention; and

FIG. 2 is a cross section of a part of the sheet of FIG. 1, along lines 22 of FIG. 1.

v The sheet comprisesa rectangular piece of paper 1, for example 9% X 11% inches. A border 2 is printed near the edge of the sheet, and holes 3 and 4 are punched for insertion into a two ring loose-leaf binder. At various places on the page there are printedrows of indicia 5 indicating positions for placement of stamps, said indicia comprising a line or lines 6 outlining an enclosed area, the area corresponding approximately to the size and shape of a stamp to be mounted. In a preferred embodiment, indicated generally by the number 7, the indicia comprises a broad line 8, e.g., one-eighth to three-sixteenths inch wide, the inner dimension being slightly smaller than the stamp. When a stamp 9 is positioned over the enclosed area 10, the edges of the stamp are surrounded by a dark or colored border 11.

Overlying the entire page, or at least thearea within the border 2, is a sheet of transparent film 12. This film may be heavy film or sheet stock through which stamps may be seen when pressed against one side. Preferably, the film is plastic, e.g., regenerated cellulose, cellulose acetate, polyethylene terephthalate, polyvinyl chloride, polystyrene, polyethylene or vinylidene chloride-vinyl chloride copolymer. The film may be 1-10 mils thick, preferably about 2-5 mils thick, the thickness depending on the stiffness of the particular type of film.

The film 12 is sealed to the sheet 1 along parallel strips 13 between the rows of printed indicia.

Preferably most or all of the space between the printed indicia is sealed. The seal may be produced conveniently by heat if the film 12 is coated with a thin layer of heat seal adhesive. One advantage of the invention is that such a seal may be produced by passing the sheet 1 and the film 12 under heated rollers whose widths correspond to the width of strips 13.

Between the strips 13, there are bands 14 of unadhered film over the rows of printed indicia 5. These are cut lengthwise to provide slits 15 across the full width of the film. Along the slits, the bands are divided into abutting portions 18 and 18 which do not overlap each other. These slits may be produced by passing the filmsheet laminate under round knives set to cut through film 12 but spaced sufficiently from a back-up roll to avoid cutting the sheet 1.

The slits 15 may be at the midpoint between adjacent strips 13, as shown, or they may be adjacent to the strip 13 at the top of a band 14. The position is not critical.

As indicated at 16, there may be a printed legend within the area outlined by line 6 to indicate to the collector which stamp should be mounted at that position. Similarly, a picture 17 of the stamp may be printed in that space.

In use, a stamp is mounted by lifting the film l2, positioning the stamp and releasing the film. When the film draws itself against the sheet 1, the stamp will be held in place.

It is not necessary that all of the stamps extend fully across the bands 14. Shorter stamps will be held in place, especially if the film is rather stiff.

While a sheet for a loose-leaf binder is illustrated, the invention may be applied to pages of a bound stamp album. In such an album, it may be desirable to omit the film from the portion of the page within the bounding. The invention also may be useful for sheets displayed on a wall.

It will be appreciated that other modifications are possible within the scope of the present invention and that the foregoing embodiments are intended to illustrate but not limit it.

I claim:

1. A device for display of postage stamps comprising a sheet laminated to a transparent film, the film being bonded to the sheet along a plurality of parallel strips extending substantially across the sheet, the film and sheet being unbonded along bands between said strips and the film having slits along said bands and between said strips to permit insertion of postage stamps between said film and said sheet, a plurality of frames comprising broad lines enclosing display areas, said display areas being between adjacent parallel strips and smaller than the sizes and shapes of the respective postage stamps to be mounted between said sheet and said film, the outer dimensions of said frames being larger than the sizes and shapes of said respective stamps, said frames forming borders around stamps mounted over said enclosed areas, and printed indicia in each said enclosed area designating a postage stamp which is larger than said enclosed area but smaller than said frame so that said border will surround said postage stamp notwithstanding slight misalignment.

2. A device as set forth in claim 1 in which said in dicia include a legend in said display area identifying a stamp to be mounted at one of said positions. 

1. A device for display of postage stamps comprising a sheet laminated to a transparent film, the film being bonded to the sheet along a plurality of parallel strips extending substantially across the sheet, the film and sheet being unbonded along bands between said strips and the film having slits along said bands and between said strips to permit insertion of postage stamps between said film and said sheet, a plurality of frames comprising broad lines enclosing display areas, said display areas being between adjacent parallel strips and smaller than the sizes and shapes of the respective postage stamps to be mounted between said sheet and said film, the outer dimensions of said frames being larger than the sizes and shapes of said respective stamps, said frames forming borders around stamps mounted over said enclosed areas, and printed indicia in each said enclosed area designating a postage stamp which is larger than said enclosed area but smaller than said frame so that said border will surround said postage stamp notwithstanding slight misalignment.
 2. A device as set forth in claim 1 in which said indicia include a legend in said display area identifying a stamp to be mounted at one of said positions. 